Method of placing cartons into packing cases



July 26, 1960 Filed May 5, 1955 W. M. POTTS ETAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1H+ 3I I 34, 45' 3a O 0 30 I O O O 34, 0 42 INVENTORS.

WuuAm M. POTT5,WI LLIAM E. HARHS and JEROME 0. DARHOLT Elaizyw+m,

July 26, 1960 w. M. POTTS ETAL 2,946,164 METHOD OF PLACING CARTONS INTOPACKING Filed May 5, 1955 2 Sheets-$heet 2 and JEROME O. DARHOLT BY mumINVENTORS. 1 2 5? WILLIAM M. POTTS,WILL|AM E HARTIS ATTORNEYS.

Darholt, Charlotte, -N.C- assi gnors to Dacarn Q9113!)- ration,Charlotte, N.C., a "corporation of North Carohna 7 Filed May s, 1955,S81. No. 505,604 1 Claim. or. ss-z-o This invention relates to themethod of placing a splurality of cartons or articles into a singlepacking case and more especially to a method of placing cartons intopacking cases wherein said cartons are under positive control at alltimes, that is, at no time are the cartons released to fall by gravityinto said packing case.

Heretofore, cartons have been placed in packing 'cases by hand ormanually since most machines designed to package a plurality of cartonsinto pacldng cases have been of the gravity drop type which oftenpermits the cartons to be dropped in the packing case crooked or atangles to the bottom and top of said packing case. If the cartons arenot properly placed in the packing case the top of the case cannot beclosed and the packaging machine and the cartons packed in said packingcase will be damaged. I,

It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide amethod of automatically packing cartons into a packing case embodyingsimple methods for positively controlling the movement and position ofthe cartons as they are placed into the packing cases.

It is another object of this invention to provide a novel method ofplacing a plurality of cartons into a packing case which comprises thesteps of directing a continuous stream of cartons at a given elevation,directing a continuous stream of packing cases moved in a step-by-stepmanner at another lower elevation, stopping the leading cartons of thecontinuous stream of cartons, releasing the leading cartons of saidstream of cartons, allowing a predetermined number of said cartons toadvance beyond said stopping point into a carton receiving chamber,supporting said cartons from below in said carton receiving chamberabove one of said packing cases engaging said predetermined number ofcartons from above, removing the support from below said cartons, andlowering said cartons into said packing case.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel method oflowering a predetermined number of cartons into a packing case whereinthe cartons are positively controlled while being lowered into thepacking case. This method of positively controlling the cartons thuscompletely eliminates the hazards of crooked cartons which are sofrequent in the gravity drop type packaging machine used heretofore.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a plan view of amachine such as may be used to carry out the various steps of thismethod of placing a plurality of cartons into a packing case;

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong the line 2 2 in Figure l and showing some of the parts in adifferent position;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong the line 3-3 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong the line 4-4 in Figure 3 but showing atcnt Patented July 26, 19602 the packing case and the cartons in difierent positions from thatshown in Figure 3.

This method of packaging cartons into cases comprises the steps of:bringing into a packaging machine broadly mdicated by numeral 11aplurality of cartons 10 in side by-side relationship on a continuouslymoving conveyor belt 12 and into engagement with a pair of movablecarton retaining members 15 and 16 at opposite sides of a car-tonreceiving chamber or zone broadly indicated at 20. The carton receivingchamber 20 comprises spaced side walls 21 and 22, an end well 23 andremovable bottom carton support members 25 and 26 adjacent opposite sidewalls 21 and 22 of the carton receiving chamber 20.

A carton supporting and lowering plate 30 is provided in the chamber 20for engaging the upper surfaces of the cartons it) moved into thechamber 20 and for lowering the same from the chamber 20 into packingcases. The supporting means for the cartons 10 on the plate 3! in thedrawings is shown as a plurality of suction cups 35 having vacuum lines36 attached thereto and leading to a suitable suction pump or airwithdrawing device, not shown, which creates a vacuum in the cups 35 asthey engage the upper surfaces of the cartons it). Although suction cups35 are shown on the plate 30 in the drawings, it is to be understoodthat, other means could be employed to support the cartons 10 from aboveby the plate 30 such as electromagnets or the like. While the suctioncups 35 will support any type of carton having'a smooth upper surface,electromagnets will support cartons which carry any metal objects orcontainers therein.

A pair of indicators 40 are provided in the end wall 23 of the chamber20 to indicate when the lead carton 10 is, seated against the end plate23 and said indicators actuate an electric clutch, not shown, to startmovement of the plate 30 by means of a crank arm 42 and a guide 43'.

A lower conveyor chain is provided to move a plurality of packing cases51; along guide rails 52 in an intermittent manner so that the packingcases 51 will stop directly beneath the carton receiving chamber 20 andremain in this position until the cartons ill have been placed thereinby the plate 30.

The removable supports 25 and 26 adjacent opposite sides of the cartonreceiving chamber 29 are provided with downwardly extending guideportions 55 and 56. Front and rear guide walls and 61 extend downwardlyfrom the chamber 20 to adjacent the upper open end of the packing cases51. The walls 55, 56, 60 and 61 are provided to guide the cartons 10 asthey are moved downwardly by the plate 30.

In operation, the cartons 10 maybe placed upon the conveyor belt 12manually or they may be fed thereto directly from a carton packingmachine which places the articles in the cartons. The leading two or"the can tons 10 on the conveyor 12 will engage the movable cartonretaining members '15 and 16 to stop their forward motion and theremaining cartons will exert pressure against the leading cartons. Sincethe conveyor belt 12 continues to move, it will merely slide along thebottom of the cartons 10. As the packing machine 11 starts its cycle ofoperation, the movable carton retaining members 15 and 16 are moved toinoperative position to allow the row of cartons 10 to be movedforwardly. At this time the removable supports 25 and 26 will occupysubstan tially the position shown in Figure 1 so that the leading fourcartons are slid into the chamber 26 and onto and supported by theremovable support members 25 and 26. Upon the leading two of the cartons10 reaching the end plate 23 the indicators 40 will be contacted to thusstart the second cycle of the packing machine 11.

The second cycle of the packing machine includes the steps of loweringthe plate 30 along with the suction cups 3 35 downwardly into engagementwith the top portions of the leading four cartons in the cartonreceiving chamber- 20 with suction being applied to the lines 36 so thatthe suction cups 35 will grip the upper surfaces of the cartons 10. Theremovable support plates 25 and 26 are then moved outwardly relative toeach other from beneath the cartons 16 to substantially the positionshown in Figure 2 and the movable carton retaining members 15 and 16 areagain moved to the position shown in Figure 1 to thus move the leadingtwo of the cartons which are not disposed in the carton receivingchamber 29 slightly rearwardly to the position shown in Figure 1. Atthis time, one of the packing cases 51 will be in position directlybeneath the carton receiving chamber 20 and the plate 36 will be loweredby the crank arm 42 and the guide 43 to thus lower the tour cartons inthe carton receiving chamber 2% into the packing case 51 (Figure 2).

Upon the cartons 19 being placed in the packing case 51 the suction inthe lines 35 will be broken to thus release the suction cups 35 from theupper surface of the cartons 1t) and the arm 42 will again move theguide 43 and the plate 3 3 upwardly to substantially the position shownin Figure 3. As the plate 34) and the suction cups 35 are movingupwardly the conveyor chain 59 moves the filled packing case frombeneath the carton receiving chamber 2i) or from left to right in Figure3 and places the next succeeding empty packing case 51 in positionbeneath the carton receiving chamber 24 preparatory to filling the samewith cartons.

Although the method described teaches placing four cartons into apacking case, it is to be understood that, the packing case 51 could bedeeper and the operation of the carton supporting and lowering plate 30could be repeated as many times as is desired to lower eight cartons,for instance, into the packing case 51 before the conveyor chain 50moves to place another empty packing case beneath the carton receivingchamber 29.

It is thus seen that I have provided a method of packing a plurality ofcartons into a packing case wherein the cartons are at all times engagedby one or more elements of the packing machine and at no time duringthis method of packing cartons into a packing case are the cartonsreleased to fall by gravity or released so that they may turn relativeto each other. This positive control at all times insures that thecartons ltl will be placed in the packing case 5-1 in a straightposition with out damage to the cartons or the articles packed in thecartons.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaim.

We claim:

A method of packaging a plurality of substantially rectangular articlesin a packing case comprising the steps of feeding a pair of side-by-siderOWs of articles in parallel straight paths of travel, stopping theleading ends of the two rows of articles, separately supporting apredetermined number of the leading articles in each row from beneath,snspendingly supporting the predetermined number of leading articlesfrom above, feeding a. row of packing cases in a step-by-step mannerbeneath and parallel to the side-by-side rows of articles, the feedingof the row of packing cases being timed with the feeding of theside-by-side rows of articles so that the leading packing case ispositioned beneath the leading articles in each row, simultaneouslyreleasing the support from beneath the separately supported articles ineach row, and lowering the suspendingly supported articles into an openpacking case positioned therebeneath.

Reterences Cited in the file of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS1,247,722 Rogers et al Nov. 27, 1917 1,568,082 Mitten Jan. 5, 19261,874,669 Wagner Apr. 30, 1932 2,401,592 Von Stocker June 4, 19462,535,828 Ardron Dec. 26, 1950 2,681,171 Brown et a1. June 15, 19542,711,275 Bartlett June 21, 1955

